Too Cautious with Charging?

[blert]

My first Tesla/EV (MY) which I've now had for only a little over a month so still learning!

I was driving from Liverpool to Gloucester recently and the nav suggested that I charge at Hilton Park. It started preconditioning as soon as I left and predicted arriving with 3% SoC. This was at about 10pm and outside temp was 6 degrees. I decided to stop at Keele instead arriving with about 18% SoC and topped up enough there to get home.

Curious as to whether more experienced people would say I was too cautious by chickening out of following the satnav's plan or if you would have done the same?

 

[mswlogo]

I think that was a smart move and not to cautious at all. Especially in winter.

 

[Kansalis]

I'd have likely done the same. 3% leaves very little wiggle room if there were some kind of problem on the way or issue with chargers being full etc. I've arrived home with less, but mid-trip I'd err on the side of caution at that SoC.

 

[FastEddieB]

I’m not British, but as a relatively new US owner of a M3LR I like to sit at a charging station a little beyond what’s recommended so as to arrive at the next charging station or home with about 15% to 20% remaining. Always conjuring up images of extended detours or other delays that might eat into any small range remaining. Probably unduly conservative and just newbie range anxiety, but as applies to so many things in life, with extra range its better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

 

[Zeit93]

Yet to own an EV, awaiting delivery. But even without owning one, I would imagine you made the right choice, 3% would have made for an uncomfortable drive with a rather methane filled cabin.

 

[Adopado]

My first Tesla/EV (MY) which I've now had for only a little over a month so still learning!

I was driving from Liverpool to Gloucester recently and the nav suggested that I charge at Hilton Park. It started preconditioning as soon as I left and predicted arriving with 3% SoC. This was at about 10pm and outside temp was 6 degrees. I decided to stop at Keele instead arriving with about 18% SoC and topped up enough there to get home.

Curious as to whether more experienced people would say I was too cautious by chickening out of following the satnav's plan or if you would have done the same?

I suspect people who spend their days cruising the motorway network will know their cars so well that they can live with fine margins ... but I would be in your camp ... why add range anxiety to your life?

 

[jmaddr]

3% is way too close for comfort. Imagine if the stalls were filled, an accident caused delays, or a big headwind was not taken into account. I went down to 3% once…the car drove so slow and differently I’m keen never to repeat. Good call.

 

[Zeit93]

I suspect people who spend their days cruising the motorway network will know their cars so well that they can live with fine margins ... but I would be in your camp ... why add range anxiety to your life?

Also, you have to stop at some point, so why even risk it? Whether you stop 1hr into the journey or 5 mins before the end, the stop is still there. Don't see any reason as to why someone would risk it

 

[M1tch]

I’d have risked it

 

[Vidyutyaan]

I was weaned on Teslabjorn’s 1000km challenge videos before we got our first Tesla.
Like to aim to hit the supercharger as close to zero as I can to get those fast charge speeds!

Can’t say my wife is always happy with it though…

In all honesty there is no wrong choice, other than actually running out of juice, so do whatever makes you comfortable.

 

[Tinca]

I suspect people who spend their days cruising the motorway network will know their cars so well that they can live with fine margins ... but I would be in your camp ... why add range anxiety to your life?

This is a very good point. I do mainly motorway miles and I've got to know how my M3LR generally responds. I've dropped onto SuC quite a few times with 3% or less. This is usually late in the evenings, so the chances of all the stalls being full is unlikely. It is also when the ambient temp has been above 10C. If the temp gets into single figures or into minus numbers, I leave more margin. I get no range anxiety, but I always have a Plan B (other locations) if consumption is greater than I expected.
My driving style is consistent on the motorways, so I can be fairly confident on the SoC when arriving at a charger. Any traffic jams slow you down and you get better mileage per kWh - so that doesn't concern me either.
It has taken 35K miles over 10 months to build up confidence in the data you're being fed from the car. The SoC at arrival is now much more accurate than when I first got the car, as it is using the information on driving style to predict charging stops.
That said, there's always a first time for it to go wrong!

 

[p3k4y]

When we picked our Model Y up from the Trafford Centre, the car was happy to navigate us home with no SC stops, arriving with 7% remaining at Sheffield.

That was too risky for us for our first ever EV drive, so we took a small detour via the Stockport SC and took on £7 worth!

 

[Forty_Two]

I was driving from Liverpool to Gloucester recently and the nav suggested that I charge at Hilton Park.

Liverpool to Hilton Park is less than 100 miles, I am wondering what you left home with?

I am wondering because we're off on Thursday morning on our first long journey which will start with 200 miles south then 100 miles east then 200 miles north and home. Your post (plus recently events (car got fown to 70 miles and started alertin warning messages) has caused me to wonder whether I will get to the first destination without the car telling me to pull off and chate up. I will put the cahrge on 100% and presume that will put 370 miles on the clock (M3LR) but after two weeks of local driving I know that I am not getting anywhere near what's on the clock,; I reckon that for every 100 miles of charge the wheels are doing about 70 miles; that's all short local trips with lots of time parked up.

On my return (or earlier) I will report back on what I started with (miles of charge on the clock) and how many miles the clock lost after a continuous drive of 200.

 

[GtiMart]

Changing your plan is not a bad thing. What you could also have done is open up the trip energy graph and see how things are going as you drive. You could have slowed down if the prediction went too low, or gain enough confidence to make it and really arrive at 3-4%.

I had a trip that initially predicted 18% arrival to the SC and that was gradually going down to 12, 8, 4... I slowed down a bit and monitored the trip graph and arrived at 4%. I just needed to slow from 121kph to 113kph in that particular situation. In my case there was no alternative, it was the closest SC. You do what you feel okay with.

 

[LoudMusic]

Also, you have to stop at some point, so why even risk it? Whether you stop 1hr into the journey or 5 mins before the end, the stop is still there. Don't see any reason as to why someone would risk it

Charging speed is different at different battery state of charge. Also the distance to the destination matters - if you stop too early to charge you might have to stop again. That part is not unique to EVs.

I was weaned on Teslabjorn’s 1000km challenge videos before we got our first Tesla.
Like to aim to hit the supercharger as close to zero as I can to get those fast charge speeds!

Can’t say my wife is always happy with it though…

In all honesty there is no wrong choice, other than actually running out of juice, so do whatever makes you comfortable.

I believe charging is quickest between 10 and 60 percent. Going much below 10 can cause longer charging sessions.

This is a very good point. I do mainly motorway miles and I've got to know how my M3LR generally responds. I've dropped onto SuC quite a few times with 3% or less. This is usually late in the evenings, so the chances of all the stalls being full is unlikely. It is also when the ambient temp has been above 10C. If the temp gets into single figures or into minus numbers, I leave more margin. I get no range anxiety, but I always have a Plan B (other locations) if consumption is greater than I expected.
My driving style is consistent on the motorways, so I can be fairly confident on the SoC when arriving at a charger. Any traffic jams slow you down and you get better mileage per kWh - so that doesn't concern me either.
It has taken 35K miles over 10 months to build up confidence in the data you're being fed from the car. The SoC at arrival is now much more accurate than when I first got the car, as it is using the information on driving style to predict charging stops.
That said, there's always a first time for it to go wrong!

Consistency and familiarity with the car and the routes is definitely important. But weather plays a big role in the efficiency of all vehicles. On one of our drives I had anticipated a full day of about 350 kW/mile, but due to a tremendous headwind it ended up being closer to 420 kW/mile, and took an hour longer from driving slower and charging longer. Yay Kansas! :|

 

[Adopado]

I will put the cahrge on 100% and presume that will put 370 miles on the clock (M3LR)

You will not see 370 miles range indicated at 100% charge. That's WLTP range .... WLTP is a testing scheme that applies a consistent set of parameters when testing vehicles such that you can compare one with another. Like all other vehicle manufatureres in the UK Tesla has to use this figure in the UK. Unfortunately it does not accurately reflect the real range. Tesla base their figures in the car on EPA range (the USA standard), which is bit shorter but still tends to reflect "ideal" rather than fully realistic ranges. If you type your destination into the navigation at the start of your journey and then look at the Energy Graph it will give you a pretty accurate idea of how you can expect the consumption to work for that particular trip. From all the feedback from LR drivers on this forum you will be OK for a 200 mile leg on the motorway unless you drive at illegal speeds!

 

[GRiLLA]

As you were approaching Keale what was the prediction then for Hilton Park, in general for me it's increased from the prediction. If it was still 3% I would be with you, but if it had reforecast to over 10% then I would have pushed on, Keale Southbound is somewhere I generally try to avoid.

 

[UkNorthampton]

Had a few journeys with minus predicted. Just slowed down by 5mph on SOME of the route or inevitable slow traffic did the job and when looking healthier went back to normal speeds. One went from minus something to +6% even with spirited driving for part of the journey. If it's that low when you get home, charge immediately while battery is warm.

Also, I've started manually prewarming the battery, by navigating to a nearby shop rather than supercharger (add stop/waypoint, cancel supercharging). The prewarming seems too extreme to me, especially if I know I might be stuck in traffic for a while (getting towards rush hour near a town) or want enough time for a decent break (herding family/lunch).

 

[blert]

Liverpool to Hilton Park is less than 100 miles, I am wondering what you left home with?

I am wondering because we're off on Thursday morning on our first long journey which will start with 200 miles south then 100 miles east then 200 miles north and home. Your post (plus recently events (car got fown to 70 miles and started alertin warning messages) has caused me to wonder whether I will get to the first destination without the car telling me to pull off and chate up. I will put the cahrge on 100% and presume that will put 370 miles on the clock (M3LR) but after two weeks of local driving I know that I am not getting anywhere near what's on the clock,; I reckon that for every 100 miles of charge the wheels are doing about 70 miles; that's all short local trips with lots of time parked up.

On my return (or earlier) I will report back on what I started with (miles of charge on the clock) and how many miles the clock lost after a continuous drive of 200.

I can't honestly remember but I had driven up in the morning and it definitely wasn't near a full charge when I was leaving - maybe 40-45% or so. I've done a few longer (200mile+) trips in now and was apprehensive before the first but it's actually always been a piece of cake. Never queued for a SuC and it's always been quite pleasant to break the journey up a bit rather than ploughing on in a diesel because I didn't have any reason to stop.

 

[UkNorthampton]

You will not see 370 miles range indicated at 100% charge. That's WLTP range .... WLTP is a testing scheme that applies a consistent set of parameters when testing vehicles such that you can compare one with another. Like all other vehicle manufatureres in the UK Tesla has to use this figure in the UK. Unfortunately it does not accurately reflect the real range. Tesla base their figures in the car on EPA range (the USA standard), which is bit shorter but still tends to reflect "ideal" rather than fully realistic ranges. If you type your destination into the navigation at the start of your journey and then look at the Energy Graph it will give you a pretty accurate idea of how you can expect the consumption to work for that particular trip. From all the feedback from LR drivers on this forum you will be OK for a 200 mile leg on the motorway unless you drive at illegal speeds!

Yep and if not sure, use abetterrouteplanner to plan (return journey too). Criticism of Tesla over the range figures governments force Tesla to use is wrong. It just lets you compare apples to apples. It doesn't say how big the apples are. And different countries have different apples. EPA seems achievable to me, many would disagree. UK/WLTP is fantasy. As indeed the figures for ICE vehicles using the same standard would be.

How To Convert Conflicting EV Range Test Cycles: EPA, WLTP, CLTC

EV range is super important as we push for adoption. However, with various test cycles, it can get quite confusing. Now, you can easily compare conflicting data.

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